nursing cats

Question
how can i  increase our cats milk supply, she had 5 kittens and they seem to be hungry all the time. is it ok to give her milk?

Answer
Linda,

First of all, how old are they?  Newborns will cry almost constantly when they are not nursing or sleeping, especially when mama leaves the nest for any reason. Older kittens will begin to play more.  The only real way to know if the kittens are getting enough to eat is to weigh them every day. They should be gaining weight each and every day.  A digital postage scale with a small cardboard box is a great way to weigh the kittens. Weigh the cardboard box and then subtract it from the weight of the kitten and box together.

A kitten should double its weight in the first week, after which each kitten should gain about 4 oz (100 g) each week.

If the kittens are not gaining and you need to supplement them, you can try bottle feeding if the kittens will take a pet nurser.  If not, you may have to tube feed them (your vet can show you how.  Please let me know the results of weighing the kittens to see whether they do need to be supplemented. If they do need to be supplemented, we can talk about that as a follow up. The last thing you want to do with little kittens is to overfeed them.

Best regards... Norm.